Letter: Godly plan?

What is Gov. Brownback trying to do? His immediate aims are clear. He is reducing the tax burden of the wealthy and shifting a portion of that to the middle class and the poor. He plans to eliminate state income tax while maintaining a high sales tax and eliminating other tax measures that help the poor and middle class. A reduced state budget will require that services that benefit the poor will need to be cut. All that seems clear, but why is he doing this?

Gov. Brownback is a religious man. I believe that. Is all this a sort of social Darwinism sanctioned by his God — God helps them that help themselves? Is he just nudging the process along? Does he worship a zero-sum God — anything you get is something I lose? Does the God of “do unto others ...” have any say in this administration? Medicaid could be expanded to 185,000 additional Kansas residents who presently cannot afford medical insurance. From one religious angle this would seem a no-brainer: Of course we can afford this and of course we will help. The governor is more hesitant.

I wonder about the effectiveness of the governor’s plan. In the long run, can the wealthy be supported by a large population of poverty wage workers? Doesn’t somebody have to pay for the goods or the financial instruments or the pricey services (e.g., a physical exam)?

Brownback has more in common with the Pharisees than with Christianity. In his theology, it is the poor's fault that they are poor. They did something to deserve it. And rich people are, therefore, blessed of God.
The Pharisee stands in church and prays "Thank you God that I am not this poor sinner", with emphasis on "poor".
Simply put, this is heresy. Brownback converted to Catholicism, yet does not embrace the church's mission to help the poor - unless his plan is to have only the church, and not the government, do so.

Can't agree more with any of these comments! It is the hypocritical Pharisees that go to the front of the church to pray to make sure everyone sees them (before they stab others in the back). Seems the governor and Mr. DePue belong in this category. See, we're praying so you should know we are religious and caring and following Christ's teachings. Hardly!

Thank you, God, that you have allowed this, er, uh, person, rockchalk1977, the ability to make any issue a personal reason for him to show his disdain for anyone who has not the ability to be as wealthy, reasonable, hard-working, and intelligent as is he. May there be a special place in he...... for him.

thanks Sam for running this state into the ground. and I'm sure that once you milk it dry, you will be off elsewhere laughing all the way to wherever you have stashed your kickbacks from the Koch's and others whose pockets you have lined. I am most hope there is a god who will reward you the way you deserve....eternal punishment. by that, that comes from the book you supposedly follow. you know the one that condemns those who rob from the orphan, the widow and the poor.

as for me, I am stuck here until I retire, but as soon as I do, I will be out of here to find a place where people like me (you know, middle class taxpayers) are treated like human beings and not a cow to be milked dry, then turned out to pasture.

I wonder if these professional political Christians believe in anything at all. Do they believe in judgment? The fundamentalist preacher who is in the pocket of these kinds of politicians is blind to the apostasy of the Brownbacks, Ralph Reeds, etc., but keep endorsing them from the pulpit because they love the fetus and hate that nice gay couple next door. Poor Kansas. Poor Republican-dominated states. God help us.